Richard Bruce Parkinson

My research interests centre round the interpretation of ancient Egyptian literature, especially the poetry of the classic age (1940–1640 BC). As well the philological study of manuscripts, I work on material contexts, actors’ perspectives, literary theory (‘new historicist’ and ‘material philology’ practices) and modern receptions in literature, art and film. I am interested in issues of performance practice, cultural power, and sexuality in Ancient Egyptian culture. I enjoy the experience of attempting an integrated reading of ancient texts, thinking about their context in the landscape, their performance, and their emotional and intellectual impact on their audiences (including us).

From my work as a museum curator at the British Museum (where projects included the display of the Rosetta Stone and the Nebamun wall-paintings), I am particularly concerned with issues of materiality in the interpretation of Ancient Egyptian culture. Drawing on my research on the ‘subaltern’ aspects of ancient poems, I have also published on LGBT history across world cultures.

2015 with B. Fay and K. Jansen-Winklen ‘Don't Do What I Did! An Early Middle Kingdom Block Statue with an Inscription Added Later for “The God’s Father …, The Royal Scribe and Prophet of Osiris … Seniu (snw-jww)”’. Zeitschrift für Ägypytische Sprache und Altertumskunde 142, 33–44.

2016 ‘“Now, Voyager”’: A Preface on the Poetics of Place’ in C. Alvarez et al (ed.), Current Research in Egyptology 2015: Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Symposium, 1-19.Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow Books.